Despite cold, windy and rainy conditions in Culver City, the Ventura College me's and women's track and field teams turned in some good performances at the Western State Conference Relays hosted by West Los Angeles College. Jacob Guzman took top spot in the discus and Dillon Chong topped the second heat of the 200 meters, while other event areas also gave a good accounting for VC.
Darius Johnson joined Guzman on the podium with a third place finish in the men's discus while Donelle Smith and Jaedon Rogers followed Chong to finish 1-2-3 in the second heat of the 200m. For the second week in a row, Lilly Christenson placed second in the long jump, joining Kimora Pooler (shot put), Cynthia Tuzak (discus throw), and the men's 4x100 relay as silver medalists for the Pirates.
Reuben Jacob (shot put), Darius Johnson (men's javelin), Pooler (women's javelin), the women's distance medley, the women's 4x800, the men's sprint medley, and the men's 4x400 relay all garnered bronze medals.
"This was a good opportunity to see how the team would perform knowing fast times would not be possible, but still giving their best effort," commented head coach Tony Veney.
The Pirates face their first real conference challenge Friday Feb. 22 when five WSC teams invade the VC Sportsplex for the annual WSC North multi-team scoring meet. Field events start at noon with the 4x100 relay kicking off the track events at 1:00 pm.